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Another Ludum Dare is over and it’s time to start voting for games and evaluating the process of making our own games.

When the theme was announced I had my mind set, I knew what I was going to do. About 10 hours in, the game started to change shape and become something else than originally planned.

The Original Idea

I wanted to make a top down top down arena battle game with crazy weapons such as shark cannons, guitars, hot coffee and so on. I also wanted traps and interactive object inside the arena.

The Final Product

I’ve created a game with three weapons. The flaming cat cannon, the sex craved bunny launcher and the chicken egg launcher. It’s basically a zombie survival horror with ridiculous weapons and sound effects (etc: savage faping when a sex craved bunny is launched).

How The Development Side Went

I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do but I knew I wasn’t going to have enough time to finish this so I didn’t sleep for almost 34 hours which wasn’t a great idea. Yeah I got most things I wanted to get done, but is it clean and reusable? NO. After 24 hours just staring at a computer coding and modelling ,my productivity and coding went downhill and when I say down hill I really mean it. I was so desperate to get this done I threw some public variables here and there and changed them almost everywhere, just make one object work. Then I would have to go back and change them because they were conflicting with something else, just making it all one big mess of code, I literally have no comments anywhere. If I wanted to complete this I would most defiantly need to start over with code and do it the correct way.

Although my code reusability and cleanliness was bad I feel my modelling and animations are quite decent as I really haven’t done it much before. I’m quite happy with the graphical side of things compared to code side. Don’t get me wrong though, i’m still proud I made something within 72 hours which you could some what call a “game”.

What’s Next?

Well now over the next twenty or so days I’m going to use the results, comments and play stats to determine whether I should complete this game. Maybe add a few things in like:

multiplayer

more weapons, maps

goals and achievements

But for now I’m going to continue developing I Am Technician as it has developed quite a large audience who seem interested in it being fully developed.

Now it’s time to play and vote some games!

Vote For The Game Here

So for the past few days I have been slaving away learning techniques on how to model in Blender. I’ve managed to create some pretty decent artwork which i’m quite proud of. Over the past few days i’ve discovered how to model low poly models, rig models and even animate them! For now I’m happy with the product to start coding, but I know there is much needed improvement to be done in the future.

It has been almost five months since ‘I Am Technician’ has been released reaching just over 3,000 plays, some of those plays have been recorded and uploaded to YouTube attracting more players. I feel for a three day prototype ‘I Am Technician’ has attracted quite a large audience with almost no advertising. As ‘I Am Technician’ was created for a game jam it was published on ludumdare.com as well as itch.io, I haven’t put any other effort into advertising it. That’s why I’m reaching out to you, the public.

If this blog interests people about the potential of ‘I Am Technician’, it will help me determine whether to further develop ‘I Am Technician’ and release it on Steam. Now hold on yes, you can play the prototype here but that’s not all I want ‘I Am Technician’ to be. What is it you want it to be then you ask? well let me give you a brief on the idea behind ‘I Am Technician’ I mean that is why you’re here.

The Idea

‘I Am Technician’ is currently a physics based simulation game (Prototype) but I want it to be more than just a typical simulation game. If the development is continued I want to make it a Simulation/ Tycoon game. How could you make a Simulation game also a Tycoon game you ask? Easy. The game is going to follow a story, but it’s going to be your own personal story.

Here’s how it’s going to work, you’re going to start out working in your garage removing viruses and fixing customers computers for minimal pay but as you progress you’re going to be able purchase you own stores, stock and advertisements. Continually progressing allowing you to fix more complex and difficult technology such as repairing Laptops, Phones, Desktops to even building personal desktops specified to the customers needs and wants. In all it should be a fun experience.

But that’s not all because I am basing this off of my experience whilst working as a computer technician (But in a fun and quirky way) it’s going to teach you a little bit about the insides of computers as well. How you ask? Well since this is also a simulation game you’re going to need to repair the computers your self. The task might seem hard at first but it’s actually quite easy to get the hang of. There will be in game instructions and tutorials on how to repair the computer because you will be repairing them as if they were real computers.

I would also like input from everyone about what features to add to ‘I Am Technician’. Here are the list of ideas that I have that I will be adding into the public version, but it would really help me if you tell me which ideas you don’t like or if you have any additional ideas you’d like me to explore. You can contact me via email @Mitchell.jeffery98@gmail.com or via Twitter @mutch95

Random events etc. robbery’s and system failures

Selling stock and ordering stock

Store upgrading and advertising

In game tutorials and how-to’s for computer repairs

The Prototype

As I said before I have made a prototype of the game within a 3 day game jam. I know there are flaws in it like the controls and the difficulty but like I said before, it will be more adaptable if the games development is continued so I don’t want you having second thoughts about the game, after all a prototype is just a prototype not a final product it’s meant to have flaws found so they can be mended.

It’s very fun physics game that in someways teaches you about computers. Many laughs were had. It might have been better if you removed the time limit and just let the players screw around as much as they want.

Once you understand how to play I Am Technician, it’s really quite fun — though not entirely knowing how to play might give it a larger fun factor than intended. It’s not necessarily frustrating to not know how to play, as fooling around with the physics will entertain you for at least a little while.

After watching the tutorial video at least 5 times, I did my best to memorize all the information needed to play, and went back in again. I managed to fix several computers by the end, wherein I lost my screwdriver and couldn’t figure out how to get it back until I was told to press the “S” key. Too many people also store cats in their PC towers — that may not be healthy for the cats.

I’d love to see this as a fully-realized game, adding on tasks such as dusting out the computer, installing fans and PSU’s and other components, and perhaps removing more junk than just kittens from the PC towers. Maybe make the customers irate if you take too long? Different sorts of customers with different temperaments? Lots of potential here.

Very ambitious for a LD game. I enjoyed myself whilst playing this one, quite a bit! Great job! 😀

What Can You Do To Help?

All I need you to do is publicise this blog, make it get some attention. Share it with your friends and family who you think may enjoy it. Click that like and share button. Heck write your own blog about this blog if you feel that may help.

Also check out this short video I’ve compiled from a few of the YouTube gameplay’s of the prototype.

I have updated Turn Right To V1.1.1 which fixed a few bugs and also added the ability to share your statistics to Twitter and Facebook.

What’s New?

– Fixed link for Twitter and Facebook
– Fixed bug on iPad where clicked share or an ad would load an unexpected sound
– May of fixed bug where games crashes randomly when collecting a coin
– Fixed wall spawn for iPad
– Added ability to post statistics via the statistics page by clicking on the statistic you want to upload to either Facebook or Twitter
– Fixed crash where the app would sometimes crash on death

– Added title screen
– Added new statistic
– Made gameplay slightly easier
– Fix wall spawning where wall would spawn right in front
– Added some sound effects
– Added effect for when you achieve a new highscore
– Added social media support for Twitter and Facebook
– Fixed various bugs

Don’t forget you can post your score’s to Facebook and Twitter to challenge your friends!